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Scientists Find a New Kind of Photosynthesis

There was a type of chlorophyll which was discovered a few years back and it’s now changing the limits of the usual photosynthesis. It also talks about a brand new role of this pigment.

The study was conducted by Imperial College London and has shown a brand new unique mix of biochemistry that can possibly have application for the life on Earth, but also on other planets.

In the process of constructing building blocks of glucose, plants and cyanobacteria mix carbon dioxide with water and also use the sunlight to combine their atoms to form DNA. When it comes to converting photons that are shining down from above in actual chemical bounds, it is required to use a protein called chlorophyll-a, which absorbs flavors of light essentially while it reflects the colors blue, green and purple. This is why the plants have the green color.

About Chlorophyll-a

Chlorophyll-a can be found in almost everything that makes this photosynthesis process and it’s understandable that the red limit is universal. Some studies have shown that the boundary extends to organisms that grow on other worlds. This means that the red limit is taken as an indicator of the possibility for other worlds to maintain photosynthetic organisms.

About Chlorophyll-f

This whole thing actually changes in 2013, when a cyanobacterium which was named Acaryochloris marina, was proved to have another type of chlorophyll, which was cataloged “d”. It was shown that it could also soak wavelengths 40 nanometres longer than the type a could. After this, it was discovered a chlorophyll-f, which is a pigment that pushed the size of wavelengths that an organism could absorb over 760 nanometres. However, chlorophyll-f makes up about 10% of the pigments that collect light in the photosystems that it was found in.

Brad is a former Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, is an award-winning travel, culture, and parenting writer. His writing has appeared in many of the Canada’s most respected and credible publications, including the Toronto Star, CBC News and on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine. A meticulous researcher who’s not afraid to be controversial, he is nationally known as a journalist who opens people’s eyes to the realities behind accepted practices in the care of children. Brad is a contributing journalist to Advocator.ca